It is well-known that a data item such as a song, a piece of music, a document, a legal form, a book, a research report or a picture can be purchased through the Internet. Currently, there are two widely used methods for making such a transaction electronically.
One current method is for the seller to send the data item directly to the buyer via e-mail, wherein the price for buying the data item is negotiated between the two parties and the money is sent to the seller according to a paying method agreed upon. The major shortcoming of this method is that the seller must know the buyer or have faith in the buyer, hoping that the buyer will eventually pay for the data item. Furthermore, when the data item is sold to a large number of buyers, the seller must set up a system to keep track of which buyers have paid and which buyers have not yet paid. Many sellers may not have the temperament, the knowledge or the time to tend to the administrative aspect of doing business.
The other current method is for the seller to upload the data item to an Internet service provider or a Web site operator. The Internet service provider/Web site operator will then notify the buyer via e-mail with a unique universal resource locator (URL) so as to allow the buyer to download the data item through the URL. Musical works have been known to be purchased in this fashion wherein a buyer can download a song in an MP3 file to the buyer's computer. With this method, however, the buyer must provide a credit card number in order to be charged for downloading the data item. This is not advantageous to the Internet service provider/Neb site operator who provides the transaction service because credit card and bank fees are typically larger with high volume, low amount transactions.
It is advantageous and desirable to provide a method and system for providing a service to a seller who wishes to sell one or more data items electronically to one or more buyers without the above-described shortcomings.